The Warbonnet Diamondback Quilt is a well-designed, high-quality backpacking quilt for use either in hammocks or on the ground. It has a 15D shell and liner, comes in a number of sizes, and has several color configurations. With 19.5 oz of 900-fill down goose down, it’s good for winter use or three-season use for cold sleepers. Personally, I have found it to be quite warm in temperatures ranging down to 15 degrees F. It also costs significantly less than some comparable premium quilts making it an exceptional value.
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Specs at a Glance
- Product Tested: Custom 10 Degree Warbonnet Diamondback Quilt
- Temperature Rating: 10 degrees, F.
- Insulation: 19.5 oz of 900 fill power goose down (HyperDry)
- Fabrics: 15d Shell, 15d liner
- Weight: 30.14 oz (g) claimed; 33.5oz (g) measured
- Dimensions: 73” length, 60” shoulder girth, 42” footbox
- Differential Cut: Yes
- Footbox Style: Sewn (WideMouth)
- Draft Collar: Yes
- Pad Clips and Attachment Kit: Yes
- Adjustable Side Elastics: Yes
- Overfill: 900 fil power goose down + 1 oz
- Overfill Location: Torso
- Extras: stuff sack, mesh storage bag, two sleeping pad attachment straps
- For complete specs visit the Warbonnet website
Quilt Shell and Liner Fabrics
The Warbonnet Stock Diamondback Quilt is offered with a 15d nylon shell and liners (20d in camo). The 15d fabric is the sweet spot in terms of comfort and durability and is quite comfortable to use. There are numerous colors available – see the Warbonnet website for specifics.
Down Insulation
The Warbonnet Custom Diamondback is available with 900 fill Premium Goose down as well as 850 fill Premium Duck down. Both products are RDS-certified and are treated with PFC-free HyperDry DWR. I opted for 1 oz of overfill over the torso, bringing the total weight of my insulation to 20.5 oz.
Sizing and Dimensions
The Warbonnet Diamondback Quilt comes in nine size options: short, regular, and long lengths, and 50, 55, and 60” widths. All of these have a 42” circumference footbox. I have been using the regular length, 60” width quilt and it fits my 5’ 10”, frame nearly perfectly.
For reference, the 60″ wide model is 60″ wide from about your elbows to just past your hips: from there it tapers slightly toward the foot and head ends. The 60″ model adds a 5″ baffle to both sides: this extra pair of baffles run from the top of the quilt to just above the footbox gusset and is tapered. By adding extra width only where it’s needed these side baffles are shorter and lighter, giving you extra width with less weight penalty.
Quilt Construction
The Diamondback has diamond-shaped baffles in the top of the quilt to separate the baffles into two zones, a top zone over the torso and a bottom zone over the legs. This prevents the down from shifting between the zones and makes it possible to overstuff each half independently. Having shorter baffles also means that it takes less time to fluff the down insulation before use so you can get under the covers and warm up sooner.
The Diamondback also has a differential cut meaning that the outer shell is wider and longer than the inner. This allows you to press your knees, toes, or elbows against opposite sides, tensioning the inner layer in the process, but without fully compressing the down like you would with a non-differential cut quilt. Differential-cut quilts are more time-consuming to make and thus they are usually more expensive than non-differential-cut quilts. They’re also slightly lower in weight because less fabric is used.
I selected the sewn Widemouth foot box option in this custom-built quilt, which is higher volume than a more traditional round footbox. It’s designed for people with a US shoe size greater than 10 allows for more foot splay, more space between your ankles, and a much roomier feeling footbox in general. For a cold-weather quilt, I recommend sticking with a sewn and closed footbox instead of a zippered on you can vent because it’ll be warmer and less drafty.
Draft Collar and Closure
The Warbonnet Diamondback comes stock with a draft collar. It is essentially a tube of down sewn to the head opening and can be either tucked inside or pulled outside of the quilt and around one’s face. It effectively seals out drafts most effectively and keeps warm air sealed inside the bag so it can’t escape.
The draft collar on the Diamondback is comparatively large providing a significant advantage in cold weather. The neck opening closes behind your neck with a secure snap. It’s easy to use and doesn’t pop open when tossing and turning in the middle of the night. The neck opening can be cinched using cordlocks on either side of your head and is also easy to adjust without contortions.
Sleeping Pad Attachment System and Side Elastics
The Warbonnet Diamondback utilizes a side elastic system similar to UGQ’s Dynamic Tension Control System and the ETC (edge tension control) found on Nunatak quilts. Shockcord runs through a channel along the interior edge of the quilt. If you cinch it tight it pulls the interior edges of the quilt in toward and under your sides to block drafts from chilling you. It works very well and partially negates the need for pad attachment straps.
The Diamondback’s Pad Attachment system uses center-release buckles (aka wafer clips which are used by many quilt makers) and 5/8″ elastic webbing. It comes with one straight strap and one looped strap and has clips on each side of the quilt. You stick your sleeping pad through the looped strap in order to keep the quilt on the pad while you sleep. If you need to get up at night, you can release one side of the clips and pull back the quilt like a blanket or simply wiggle out of the top of the quilt and back in again afterward. Pad attachment systems are best used (in my opinion) with inflatable sleeping pads because the straps bite into the sides of the pad and are less prone to migration.
Temperature Rating
Zero degrees is an interesting temperature rating for a quilt. A lot of people (including myself) start veering towards mummy bags at temperatures below about 20 degrees because they don’t suffer from side drafts the way that quilts can and because a mummy hood, which often includes a draft collar, is much more foolproof, even if it is less comfortable and more constraining.
Having used the Diamondback in cold temperatures, the draft collar and side elastics go a long way to making the use of a 10-degree quilt a lot more palatable for ground use. That and the fact that Warbonnet’s temperature ratings are conservative. Provided you use a sleeping pad with an R-value of five or better and you wear an insulated hood or down-filled hooded jacket, sleeping in a 10-degree quilt can be quite warm and comfortable. If drafts are still a problem, I suggest investing in an ultralight bivy sack made with solid fabric that will completely block them.
Comparable Premium Top Quilts
| Make / Model | Features | Type |
|---|---|---|
| Enlightened Equipment Revelation Quilt | Down or Synthetic Insulation, Drawstring Footbox, UL Fabrics, Draft Collar Option, Many Colors Available. |
Stock, Custom |
| Katabtic Gear Alsek 22 Quilt | Differential Cut, Draft Collar, Overfill Available. | Stock |
| Hammock Gear Burrow Quilt | Zipper or Sewn Footbox, Overfill Available, Many Colors Available. | Stock, Custom |
| Feathered Friends Flicker UL Bag | Drawstring Footbox, Full Length Zipper, Dual Draft Tubes. | Stock |
| Enlightened Equipment Convert Sleeping Quilt | Down or Synthetic Insulation, Drawstring Footbox, Full Length Zipper, Dual Draft Tubes, Many Colors Available. | Stock, Custom |
| Warbonnet Diamondback Quilt | Zipper or Sewn Footbox, Draft Collar Option,Side Elastics Option, Overfill Available, Many Colors Available. | Stock, Custom |
| Thermarest Vesper 20 Quilt | Box Baffled Construction, Side Baffles, UL Fabric. | Stock |
| Zpacks Classic Sleeping Quilt | Box Baffled Construction, Overstuffed, 3/4 Zipper, UL Fabric. | Stock |
| UGQ Outdoor Bandit Quilt | Draft Collar Option, Overfill Available, Many Colors Available, Taper Options, Dynamic Tension Control Option, Multiple Footbox Options | Stock, Custom |
| Nunatak Arc UL Quilt | Differential Cut, Draft Collar, Edge Tension Control, UL Fabrics, Quilt Layering Snaps, Overfill Available | Custom |
Recommendation
The Warbonnet Diamondback Quilt is a very warm, reasonably priced quilt with a draft collar, effective side elastics, and a standard wafer-based pad attachment system. The design, construction, and materials are top-notch.
Disclosure: Warbonnet donated a quilt for this review.
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